New Energizer Light Fusion LED Lanterns and flashlights at Target

[Lynx_Arc]

I was just at Target today in a store that they are currently completely remodeling and finally stumbled into where they put the flashlight aisle and noticed 4 new Energizer LED light/lanterns. I don't remember the prices of everything but here is the page from Energizers site.
http://www.energizer.com/flashlights-lighting/flashlights/Pages/new-products.aspx
They have a small pop up lantern that is 150 lumens taking 4 batteries I think around $20
There is a 2 mode light/lantern without stand for $20 and a 2 mode with stand for $25.
The final entry is an interesting flat panel LED lantern rated at 300 lumens.
All these lights have a sort of variable output on the lantern part when it is on that mode you can cycle down/up to adjust the output. I sort of had trouble getting it to the lowest output when it hits low it blinks and one light was shutting off after awhile but I am thinking it may be just to conserve batteries in demo mode. The 300 lumen lantern didn't look like 300 lumens to me at all more like 150 to 200. I noticed the pop up lantern seems to have 3 emitters on it. The output on the two flashlight beams looked good but I didn't really have a good way to check.

 

[thinker]

I have been following these products on the Energizer website (which claimed availability on March 31), and now on Amazon (which has more details and says they will be available April 21). I'm particularly interested in the pop up lantern and the light/lantern with stand. To what percentage of full brightness can the lanterns be dimmed? Does the pop up lantern look like it puts out close to 150 lumens? How uniform is the light pattern, especially near the edges of the panel?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I'm particularly interested in the pop up lantern and the light/lantern with stand. To what percentage of full brightness can the lanterns be dimmed?

It is hard to tell as the lights in the store and gauging brightness of a rectangular panel vs an LED beam I would guess down around 10% +/- 5%.

Does the pop up lantern look like it puts out close to 150 lumens? How uniform is the light pattern, especially near the edges of the panel?

I would say it was at least around 100 lumens as I didn't buy it but tried it in the package in a well lit store. You can ramp them up/down in the package all 4 of them and I just read on Energizer's site that to use them you have to first remove the batteries for about 10 seconds to reset them to normal mode from "demo" mode which makes it hard to test the ramping levels of the lights they tend to shut off after about 5 seconds or so or after you let go of the switch after ramping it it went off on me.

 

[Burgess]

with " Light Fusion technology " !

 

[thinker]

Sounds like these might be some very good lanterns - good output, non-glarey, compact, dimmable, no green blinker. (No, I don't work for Energizer.) Is there anything negative you noticed about these?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Sounds like these might be some very good lanterns - good output, non-glarey, compact, dimmable, no green blinker. (No, I don't work for Energizer.) Is there anything negative you noticed about these?

The two flashlights looked to have only 180 degree output on the lantern mode, and the large 300 lumen looked like it would put more light upwards than downwards by the design without some sort of top hat to reflect/direct light downward. The diffusing method could be either ingenious or somewhat ineffective. I think the flashlights are a bit big and long myself but I guess using 4AAs (I think) that is the way they had to be made.... long and flat but they are considerably longer than energizers previous flood/flashlight arcwhite/doublebrite/trailfinder CCFL lights.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I just noticed this on the 300 lumen lantern... sad that Energizer had to stoop to this:

*Light output measured from LED at 150 mA rms drive current. Value is only applicable to the LED. Actual device light output may vary.

This was regarding the 300 lumen output which makes the claim non ansi which would probably back my observation that it didn't seem like 300 lumens to me.

 

[Terry434]

Video - Energizer Fusion Lights http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m8AF6J3QZWF5X/ref=ent_fb_link

 

[Phaserburn]

Just got the folding lantern. I like it very much. They kept the good design elements from their folding lantern series but improved on them quite a bit. Is it 300 lumens? No, but then again few manufacturers, especially in retail where your packaging must compete, provide sphere tested device lumens. It is nicely bright, however, and I could easily believe 150-200 or more as noted above.

Current draw on 4 eneloops is 760ma. Draw on 8 cells is 380ma, so they are clearly in parallel series of 4. Output is extremely smooth. I'll know more tonight. It does have a variable dimming feature, and can be dimmed down to 10ma on 8 cells. Holy massive runtime!

The build quality has improved vs the fluoro and led previous versions. Smaller, lighter with a back stand and much nicer, rubber covered handle. It has very good hand feel.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Current draw on 4 eneloops is 760ma. Draw on 8 cells is 380ma, so they are clearly in parallel series of 4. Output is extremely smooth. I'll know more tonight. It does have a variable dimming feature, and can be dimmed down to 10ma on 8 cells. Holy massive runtime!

You would have to check the actual circuitry to tell if they were put in parallel or series using a buck circuit or not but my guess would be the two sets are in parallel as it would be easiest but that could require a diode to prevent unequal battery discharge/charging in case you put a new set in with a dead set of cells. In series it would probably have to detect if there were batteries in each circuit and somehow swap in both using some sort of switching device. 10ma means about 200 hours runtime but in parallel that may mean 20ma (total) to the circuitry which if it is a buck circuit could equate higher than that to the LEDs. The two flashlights don't really interest me much but the two lanterns and the variable output have my curiosity peaked.

 

[Phaserburn]

Now that I see this lantern at night, I like it even more. Gotta give it to Energizer on this line; no one else has a product like this that I'm aware of. It came with 4 alk AAs, too. I'd like to give the 4aa flashlight/area light a try soon.

 

[thinker]

Phaserburn, when you say the output is extremely smooth, do the mean the level of output is steady as a function of time? Or do you mean the spatial distribution pattern is uniform?

 

[Phaserburn]

The light distribution. But, as I'm using Nimh cells and am only drawing 380ma, I'd say the output over time would be quite even as well.

One other thing - because of the large size of the surface emitting light... No glare.

 

[Phaserburn]

I just picked up the 4AA flashlight/area light combo. If the 8AA lantern was to replace the 4D fluoro, then this light replaces the 4AA CCFL/5mm led light.

Good news is that if using the flashlight, it's actually decently bright. The main beam is nice and even due to an optic. There are a couple of faint rainbow artifacts outside the main beam on the periphery, not horrible, but not 100% flashaholic standard. You do not need to always cycle thru the area light to turn it off, either, like I assumed you would. If on for more than a few seconds, the next button click turns it off. If you click twice within a few seconds, you get the area light. On either setting, pressing and holding the button down variably dims the light; it blinks when it reaches min output and starts to ramp up. Nice.

The area light is quite bright. After using the lantern model last night with the area light fully extended, which makes a difference, I would have no trouble believing its 200+ lumens. Area lights are hard to judge until completely dark. This 4AA model claims 150 lumens for the area light and 75 for the flashlight. I can say the main beam is in the 70 area. The area light is probably 120+ish. Same smooth output as its bigger lantern brother. Shining LEDs thru acrylic with tons of tiny reflective holes is a very clever and effective way to evenly diffuse.

The flashlight draws 170ma, and the area light 190ma, so 10 hr runtimes on eneloops is doable for either part of the light.

This light would make a great gift or loaner during power failures. It can do both jobs pretty well and is easy to use.

 

[Stereodude]

I'm a sucker for lanterns. I sense a stop at Target in my future.

 

[thinker]

Phaserburn, I have two questions for you .

In posts #9 and #14, when you quote current draw, is that the total current for a set of 4 batteries, or something else?

Is the flashlight/area light combo that you bought the 2-in-1 or the 3-in-1 (with the legs and pivoting head)? Energizer gives specs of 100 and 75 lumens for the former and 150 and 100 for the latter.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I just picked up the 4AA flashlight/area light combo. If the 8AA lantern was to replace the 4D fluoro, then this light replaces the 4AA CCFL/5mm led light.


The area light is quite bright. After using the lantern model last night with the area light fully extended, which makes a difference, I would have no trouble believing its 200+ lumens. Area lights are hard to judge until completely dark. This 4AA model claims 150 lumens for the area light and 75 for the flashlight. I can say the main beam is in the 70 area. The area light is probably 120+ish. Same smooth output as its bigger lantern brother. Shining LEDs thru acrylic with tons of tiny reflective holes is a very clever and effective way to evenly diffuse.

The flashlight draws 170ma, and the area light 190ma, so 10 hr runtimes on eneloops is doable for either part of the light.

This light would make a great gift or loaner during power failures. It can do both jobs pretty well and is easy to use.

That sounds odd... 75 lumens for 170ma and 150 lumens for 190ma... doesn't add up unless the efficiency of the LEDs varies a lot. After checking Energizers site it doesn't help as one light has the flashlight beam at 750 lumens (definitely an error) and the other has it at 100 lumens. I am guessing that the beam is closer to the output of the flood and the main difference is in efficiency of the optics involved in both.

 

[Phaserburn]

Current draw measurements were done on the set of 4 batteries. The flashlight I have is the one without the pivoting head and balance legs. While the current draws from the flashlight are similar (flashlight vs area light), it's one led with a draw of 170 vs 2 leds with a draw of 190 (or almost 100 each). Wouldn't the lumens from 2 leds at 100ma each be greater than a single one at 170? I would think so. I'm assuming they are the same led type, but it's hard to tell with the flashlight one behind an optic. Another thought is that Energizer is playing a bit with lumen values as they need to have higher ones on the pivot flashlight to help facilitate the extra $5 price.

 

[thinker]

That sounds odd... 75 lumens for 170ma and 150 lumens for 190ma... doesn't add up unless the efficiency of the LEDs varies a lot. After checking Energizers site it doesn't help as one light has the flashlight beam at 750 lumens (definitely an error) and the other has it at 100 lumens. I am guessing that the beam is closer to the output of the flood and the main difference is in efficiency of the optics involved in both.

On Amazon, they list the output as 100 lumens for the lantern and 75 for the flashlight for the 2-in-1 model. They list the 3-in-1 model for 150 and 100 respectively. I stopped by Target and looked at these lights. The 2-in-1 has 2 LEDs for the lantern and the 3-in-1 has 3 LEDs for the lantern. I don't remember if I specifically checked the product labels for the lumen numbers or not, but I think I would have noticed if they were different from what I thought they were.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

On Amazon, they list the output as 100 lumens for the lantern and 75 for the flashlight for the 2-in-1 model. They list the 3-in-1 model for 150 and 100 respectively. I stopped by Target and looked at these lights. The 2-in-1 has 2 LEDs for the lantern and the 3-in-1 has 3 LEDs for the lantern. I don't remember if I specifically checked the product labels for the lumen numbers or not, but I think I would have noticed if they were different from what I thought they were.

Yes I sort of notice ansi ratings are not on these products which makes me conclude that they may have made the packaging before they assembled them and not quite known what LEDs they would be getting and not really measured the outputs for such ratings.